Eve Ensler Movies
- 2008
- R
Looking at the cover of popular fashion magazines and examining the lengths that young girls will go to in order to achieve "perfection," it's easy to see why many people believe that America has developed an unhealthy obsession with beauty. In this documentary, filmmaker Darryl Roberts offers deeper insight into this observation by speaking with everyone from advertising and fashion professionals to average people on the street in an attempt to discover precisely why some people are willing to put their lives on the line in order to become physically attractive. Gerren Taylor was a lanky 12-year-old girl whose gangly appearance was once an endless source of amusement for her cruel classmates, but over the course of the next two years her most embarrassing features become her greatest assets as she strives to become one of America's next top supermodels. But what drives girls like young Gerrin to seek the attention and admiration of millions? By attempting to peer into the mindsets of such picturesque celebrities of Paris Hilton and Jessica Simpson and picking the brains of some of the top magazine editors, plastic surgeons, and beauty experts in the country -- not to mention divulging the sometimes bizarre ingredients found in popular cosmetics -- Roberts does his best to find out just why we seem to value surface beauty over true substance. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 2006
Eve Ensler's theater piece The Vagina Monologues has become an international phenomenon and a source of empowerment for women of all walks of life. However, in 2005 Ensler became involved in a special production of The Vagina Monologues for a group of women whose story was not dealt with in the play -- women who used to be men. A group of transsexuals were interested in staging a version of the show that was unique to them, and Ensler not only gave her blessings to the project, but worked with the cast of transgendered performers to give the text a voice that was appropriate to their circumstances. Filmmakers Josh Aronson and Ariel Orr Jordan were on hand to witness the gestation of this unique performance, and Beautiful Daughters is a documentary which not only chronicles the writing and rehearsals for the transsexual Vagina Monologues, but explores the lives and experiences of the women performing the play, who run the gamut from a respected computer science instructor to a exotic dancer turned real estate salesperson. Produced for broadcast on the premium cable channel Logo, Beautiful Daughters was also screened as part of New York City's 2006 NewFest Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 2003
First-time filmmaker Abby Epstein directs Until the Violence Stops, an hour-long documentary capturing the impact of V-Day in five different international communities. Following the success of Eve Ensler's award-winning play The Vagina Monologues, V-Day was created as a global movement to end violence against women and girls. In 2002, hundreds of V-Day benefit events occurred all over the world in order to raise both awareness and funds. This program focuses on specific V-Day events in New York, California, the Philippines, South Dakota, and Kenya. Includes appearances by founder Eve Ensler along with celebrity activists Jane Fonda, Glenn Close, and Isabella Rossellini. Until the Violence Stops was shown at a special screening of the Sundance Film Festival prior to its commercial-free broadcast premiere on Lifetime Television in February of 2004. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- 2002
The documentary What I Want My Words to Do to You offers a look at some actual rehabilitation at a women's maximum security prison. Directors Judith Katz, Madeleine Gavin, and Gary Sunshine used high-definition video cameras to capture an emotional reformation process for several incarcerated women. Activist and playwright Eve Ensler (The Vagina Monologues) conducted a writing workshop at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in New York. Some of the inmates were serving long sentences, including some members of the Vietnam war-era radical political group the Weather Underground. The convicts were asked to contemplate their crime and assess possibilities for their future, even if that means life imprisonment. After the workshop, the stories were then performed by actors with the entire prison population as the audience. The personal stories of the inmates shared a common theme of painful truths and acceptance. What I Want My Words to Do to You won the Freedom of Expression Award at the the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Alice, Glenn Close, (more)
Actress, playwright, and political activist Eve Ensler was talking with a friend who was going through menopause in the 1990s when she was first struck by the way women spoke about their bodies, which she believed was a reflection of how they felt about themselves and their gender. Ensler was inspired to write a series of essays on women, their bodies, and the language they used to communicate about themselves which she adapted into a performance piece she called The Vagina Monologues. Opening at a tiny off-off-Broadway theater, The Vagina Monologues soon became a hit in New York City which spread around the world, becoming an international phenomenon. Eve Ensler re-creates her original performance of The Vagina Monologues in this video adaptation, which was produced for the premium cable network HBO. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
